AGENDA:
Quiz--THE HOURS--
Post a blog response to these questions:
13. What does the possibility of death represent to the various
characters? Which of them loves the idea of death, as others love life?
What makes some of the characters decide to die, others to live? What
personality traits separate the "survivors" from the suicides?
16. Why has Cunningham chosen The Hours for the title of his novel
(aside from the fact that it was Woolf’s working title for Mrs.
Dalloway)? In what ways is the title appropriate, descriptive? What do
hours mean to Richard? To Laura? To Clarissa?
Continue to work on your MOTIF story/poetry cycle/drama.
1. In the case of Virginia, she's attempted suicide multiple times due to her struggle with mental illness and feeling of helplessness in her own life. Clarissa on the other hand loves living and idea of death most likely terrify her. Laura, due to her son's death, likely would want to continue on living for her own sake. The survivors are those who persevered through their hardships while those like Virginia choose to end it.
ReplyDelete2. I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's a time thing. The book occurs over different time periods and the characters change throughout the passing years. Clarissa loses her purity over the years and Laura's life just becomes harder as her son ages and eventually kills herself.
Justice and James
ReplyDelete1. The possibility of death is a way of getting out for Woolfe, which is why she loves the idea of death, but Clarissa would rather live even with all of the crying Meryl Streep did. Laura decides to live because of her family, which doesn't make sense because she leaves them. The characters who decide to die are tempted by a better life.
2. The hours represent the time passage. Each character simply counts down "the hours" left that they have to endure. Clarissa counts the hours down until the party, Laura until her suicide (which she does not go through) and then later to her departure from her family. Woolfe is counting down "THE HOURS" until her suicide, or publication of a new book [whichever came first]. Richard is counting down the hours until he launches himself out of the window. The hours all represent the struggles that our characters deal with.
1. The multiple attempts of suicide by Virginia and her choosing life is her internal battle for the longing of death. The suicidal characters want relief from their normal lives which are a pain to them.
ReplyDelete2.The book mentions the line "I still have to face the hours" which may be attribute to these people facing the time in their lives and choosing to end it or keep living with guilt.
13. The possibility of death represents that they have attempted suicide a few times in her life. They struggle with mental illnesses and feelings of hope. This cause them to move into a state of desperation. Virginia and Laura like the idea of death so much that they have attempted suicide. At times they get the feeling of insanity and go mad. They think that they are a weight on their family and/or that they just want to abandon everything and start a new life. Clarissa enjoys the idea of life. because death makes her feel afraid and gives her a state of desperation. Laura would continue living by herself and just move one after her son's death. Clarissa decided to move on. Virginia decided that it was time to choose the end of her hardships.
ReplyDelete16. I think that Cunningham chose "The Hours" as the title of his novel because as time passes, the hours are counted until one of the woman wants to make a change in their life. To Richard,t he hours mean the time that he is counting down to throw himself out the window. Before Clarissa came again to his house, he was getting ready, so he was counting down the hours. Laura was counting down the hours to abandon her family and start all over again. Since the book occurs in different time periods, but in the summer, the hours are almost similar.
13. Death to the characters means the end of something as they all think of suicide to end the feelings and things they are going through. Any moment they go through has them evaluate everything else in their life. Clarissa thinks about the differences between her life now and when she was younger with Richard. This makes her contemplate that her life is something she doesn't want to be and instead of living, she just exists. Laura Brown feels as if her role of being a housewife and mother restricts her as she falls into a depression contemplating suicide to leave this life. Virginia is already in a bad mental state thinking about death for herself and for her character in her book.
ReplyDelete16. The Hours is focusing on time and how the characters fill them. It's as if your entire life is made up of only a couple hours and how you spend those hours is what counts. Also, most of the events in each time period happens over the course of a day. Clarissa and Richard's time happens in only a day. The planning of a party and his suicide over certain times of the day.
13.
ReplyDeleteThe possibility of death represents freedom for some. Virginia and Laura see death as the path towards freedom. Some characters decide to die because they feel like the only way that they can truly be free is if they die. The trait that separates Laura and Virginia is that Laura sees that she has people who she has to live for. She feels that her life as a housewife and a mother are the reasons why she needs to stay in the world. On the other hand, Virginia sees nothing to her life, the sounds and the headaches that come to her make her life so unbearable that she would rather not live.
16.
The book is probably named “The Hours” because the people in the book make their life or death decisions based on the times of their lives and what’s going on in them. If they feel that there isn’t much to it, then they might end their lives, but if they see that there’s more to live for they remain in this world. It’s called the hours because time and hours are what those who are willing to commit suicide, tend to think about. The hours are what wraps around their heads as the dark thoughts pour in as well.
13.For some of the characters, death is a way to escape from the life they don't want to continue living. Virginia wasn't satisfied with her life and she thought dying would allow her to truly live. Same thing goes for Laura but she doesn't kill her self because she knows that her son, baby, and husband needs her.
ReplyDelete16. Cunningham chose The Hours for the title because the story takes place within a day of each of the girls. It represents the time that they have, or don't have.
13. Some of them loved death more than life. Laura and Richard are two characters who loved death and Clarissa and Virginia loved life.
ReplyDelete16. To Richard he never knew when he was going to die and he decided to finally give up by jumping out the window. To Clarissa there was only hours to the party for Richard which never happens because he died. To Laura she planned to leave after her second child was born and as she waited she waited hours to leave. The title is appropriate because throughout the story the characters are all waiting.
13. The concept of death seems like an escape for the characters. All the characters seem to strive for freedom of some sort. It’s as if they are in an imaginary prison; they are kept without chains and are able to do what they please but they still feel as if they are trapped. Death seems to be the answer to solve their problems. The “survivors” seem to be happy that they chose life instead of death, but they don't regret it (if you get what I mean.)
ReplyDelete16. I think Cunningham chose this title in particular to represent a sort of countdown, a countdown that leads to some sort of hysteric event. For each of the characters as time passes by, they seem to be at edge of their sanity. They are faced with constant frustration and problems they don’t have solutions too.
Emani and Raina
ReplyDelete13.The possibility of death isn't something that disappears, it's how each character views it is what separates them. For some it serves as a constant battle with mental illness that fixates them on the idea of death, that it's easier. Those like Virginia crave a life of peace and only feel that can be achieved through death.
16. We don't think the title was made to have some complex meaning behind it, but rather ideal in its simplicity. Hours can present both positive and negative but time matters when it comes to how you chose to utilize it, either effectively or not.
13. The characters in "The Hours" suffer with internal problems that make them want to end their life. Virginia has attempted suicide a few times, but failed. Laura took sleeping pills, trying to kill herself, but she had an instant regret and ended up not dying. Richard ended his life by taking Xanax and completely ended his life by going out the window while Clarissa was there. They were all going through something very difficult situations in their life.
ReplyDelete16. Cunningham has chosen the title of "The Hours" because the characters in the story are all messing with the time they have left before they are gone and leaving this world. They were making decisions that will impact the ones that they love. "The Hours" was like the count down until they finally make their final decision.